Urban Planner: November 10, 2011

In today's Urban Planner: A play about a former prime minister digs into Canadian history, the DEW Line Festival comes to a close with a concert for change, and an improv show brings music and comedy together on the Danforth.

Marcel St. Pierre and Kris Siddiqi combine music and comedy in their much-lauded improv show, Egg Zeppelin. Photo courtesy of Marcel St. Pierre.

THEATRE: With Canada’s economy still looking gloomy, it’s only fitting that theatre group VideoCaberet has decided to look back to see how our leaders dealt with tough financial times in Canada’s past. The Life and Times of Mackenzie King, a play set in the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression, follows Canada’s most eccentric prime minister through the thin and the thick of it. The Cameron House (408 Queen Street West), opens today for a limited run, show times and ticket prices vary.

CLIMATE CHANGE: The DEW Line Festival, a week-long event that explored art inspired by Marshall McLuhan, might be wrapping up, but that doesn’t mean it has to go out with a whimper! The Cape Farewell Foundation will close this six-day festival on culture with Climate is Culture. Featuring such artists as Patrick Watson & the Wooden Arms and Amy Millan (of Stars), this event promises to bring to life the true essence of McLuhan’s thesis: that artists are the harbingers of culture change. Koerner Hall (273 Bloor Street West), 7:30 p.m., $35.

COMEDY: Music, improv, and bacon—such is the stuff of dreams. But comedic duo Kris Siddiqi and Marcel St. Pierre make that dream a reality in Egg Zeppelin. Building on audience suggestions, the pair assume the characters of Dude and Man—co-owners and operators of a greasy spoon—and create a spontaneous, hour-long set filled with laughs and music. Tonight’s show will also feature Fast and Dirty, another Toronto-based sketch team. The Black Swan Tavern (154 Danforth Avenue), 8 p.m.–10 p.m., “pay what you think.”

Urban Planner is Torontoist‘s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].